


now you're in the world

by echotovalley



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Falling In Love, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:55:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27921115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/echotovalley/pseuds/echotovalley
Summary: Lance is a giver - always has been and he loves it.He likes knowing the people he has in his life and learning the language of their love and how to make them feel better. It’s unique to that person and variety is the spice of life after all.Lance thought he had it all figured out.But then, Keith comes along.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 183





	now you're in the world

  
Lance is a giver - always has been and he loves it.

He likes knowing the people he has in his life and learning the language of their love and how to make them feel better. It’s unique to that person and variety is the spice of life after all. If he had to date it, it probably stems from birth as a twin. He doesn’t ever remember learning how to read between the lines with Rachel or the specific things that make her feel better. But his family is more than just her, his family was big so there was plenty of learning opportunities.

Rachel, of course, was the easiest. They shared a bedroom for the first few years of their lives. His mom says she can count on one hand the number of times she put them to bed and found them still in their own beds the next morning. He can just _exist_ beside her and it’s enough.

Marco and Lance were like a house on fire. Mischief was the name of the game. Something constructive to put their limitless energy into. Constructive a few times being a very generous word.

Veronica took a little time. He had to get creative. Second born, first daughter - another sibling was an adjustment, let alone _twins._ She taught them a lot though, showed them cool science projects in their backyard. She didn’t talk to them like they were babies. Out of all of Lance’s siblings she was the student. Whether from misconceptions or her own expectations for herself or a mix of the two, it made approaching her daunting when he was younger. They eventually figured it out. He stopped trying to tell her she was wasting her life in her room studying and she stopped telling him he was a pain. While she would study at her desk, muttering to herself and rubbing her temples, he would bring her snacks and water, hop on her bed and play his GameBoy with the music down low.

He made sure to play games in her room that had soft, soothing music.

She was the first person to tell him about space and engineering, turning her text book toward him and flipping through the pages until she got to the pictures of outer space - planets and stars and supergiants, swirling, glittering dust drifting out from the fringes of galaxies, and teaching him the names of as moons as she could.

If the way to meeting Veronica was bumpy, Luís was nearly impossible. He was a little bit harder to read. He took being the oldest seriously, he was supposed to be the leader and the sensible one. His little brothers and sisters weren’t supposed to be the ones to comfort him, he was the steadfast older brother to back them up. It isn’t hard to imagine by any stretch of the imagination that Lance didn’t like that all too well. There would be glimpses at dinner, if he and Veronica were talking about something only they remembered or were literally there as the only two McClain siblings to exist at the time. Looking back, Lance saw a lot of himself in those moments when Luís was just _Luís._

Of course, he treated Lance and Rachel a little bit differently from Veronica and Marco because they were the babies. It wasn’t terrible but it got old around the time Lance was eight. They weren’t _the babies,_ the twins anymore, they were becoming their own people. Developing their interests and hobbies. Lance did everything he could to not bother Luís and anything to impress him to show him that Lance was a cool kid brother.

It drove him crazy because Rachel didn’t seem to run into the same speed bumps with Luís. They had jokes and bits and some did hobby stuff together.

His lowest point was asking Rachel for tips.

Asking if they’re oldest brother maybe didn’t like Lance.

Well, Rachel told him he was crazy and immediately went to their mother, fighting Lance trying to hold her back all of the way. No one was going to make him think her little brother wasn’t loved or a bother, not on her watch.

She was only two minutes older than him.

It would be nice to get a break from being reminded that he was technically the youngest for _at least_ five minutes.

So, their mother eyed them up and down, told Luís to get his surfboard and take Lance to the beach. She herded them out the front door on the porch before going back inside.

It was —

Lance didn’t think his life was really starting until that afternoon.

His nosed burned from all of the water he took on and his knees were bruised and shook under him as Luís paddled them out of the shallows for Lance to try _just_ _one more time._

Their curfew back then was governed by the streetlamps, when fireflies would blink out over the grass. When the streetlights blinked on over the boardwalk as the sun turned everything soft and pink, yellow, and purple, Lance’s stomach sank. He was so close.

Luís, fifteen to Lance’s eight (he was technically almost nine), put a serious hand on Lance’s shoulder and squeezed. “C’mon. One more. If we get in trouble, I’ll take the heat.”

Even if Lance had to hustle hard to feel equal or accepted by his oldest brother, there was a bottom line understanding that connected them all - no McClain sibling took a punishment alone if more than one was involved.

But Lance just nodded and took his brother’s surfboard back out into the water, one more time.

The water looked like it was lit with a fire beneath the surface as the sun dipped closer to the horizon. The wind tussled his air and his chest burned in a good way. He had to get this.

The wave that next rolled in was a little bigger than what Luís had him practicing on, but it was too late to go back now. With every muscle in his body that ached, a resolve fortified within him. Even though his arms felt like lead and he was tired, nothing was going to keep him off of this last wave.

He paddled as hard as he could.

Lined the board up like Luís had taught him and rose up.

It wasn’t perfect by any means, he lost it towards the tail end and wiped out hard, but when he finally got back on the beach, Luís tackled him into the sand.

 _“¡Tu lo hizo, Leandro!_ You did it!”

When they finally stumbled home, limbs heavy and smiles wide, no one got in trouble. Their dad hosed the sand off of them, spraying them in the back of the head or at their feet to make them jump and run. Veronica and Marco threw towels at them to dry off before they came inside the house.

That night Lance passed out sitting upright at the dinner table halfway through his meal.

From what Rachel told him later, their mamá grinned at their dad with that clever shine in her eyes. “See, I know these things.”

He likes to think he got that knowing sense from her, a linked skill to take pride in.

It flowed easily into the other facets of his life.

* * *

  
Meeting Hunk when they joined soccer the same year and spent hours together helping Hunk with his goalie stuff and getting the rest of the team to back off - Hunk wasn’t trying to let the other team win, they all did the best they could. It was easy because he felt like he had known Hunk all his life, half an hour after meeting him.

Learning Hunk was like learning Rachel, it was just there. Could finish each other’s sentences even. They clicked and the rest is history.

Pidge came half way through the season onto their soccer team. Which wasn’t done, y’know? It definitely caught everyone’s attention, Lance included. But then she was cut loose onto the field and she legit moved like the tasmanian devil. Her foot work was lethal and her speed unforgiving. Almost small enough to be the ball and she was out-pacing them all by a mile. 

She was interesting to say the least. Lance had to get creative (again). 

Really all he had to do was take a page from Veronica’s book. Rather than putting the work in for a little experimentation, he needed to slow down and let her do the talking both literal and metaphorically speaking. If it’s meant to be, people will do an awful lot of telling in their own way. 

Her and Hunk were a little like magic. They talked about things Lance didn’t know about yet and made jokes Lance knew were stupidly nerdy, but they would laugh so hard. Lance interacting with Pidge felt like static. Too many variables were batting against him and there was a nor’easter tearing up the signal.

He was this close to begging her older brother for tips. (Matt, if he remembers right. He picked Pidge up once.)

Which would have been cheating, but he was a desperate, desperate man.

Until one day they were hanging out at Hunk’s house and he was swiping through his phone stretched out on the couch while Hunk was getting snacks from the kitchen. Pidge crashed through the door and all but threw herself on top of Lance, burying her face in the soft folds of his hoodie.

It was a lot.

Because he has fantastic recovery time, he made a truly heinous shriek and still had his arms raised up in alarm a full thirty seconds after she landed.

There was a lot of fumbling.

It’s-

It is was the most uncomfortable situation in his life.

Not because he didn’t like Pidge or anything, this just….is so far out from what their interactions usually consist of.

He doesn’t ask what’s wrong — mainly because if it has to do with school work all he’s got on him is a weak _‘there, there’_ — but he doesn’t get the vibe that Pidge wants that conversation, at least not yet. Asking her why she’s suddenly exploring her cuddly side is also definitely for another time.

Lance keeps it simple, nudges her shoulder to have her turn around enough he can take her glasses and place them on the side table beside the couch and lets her carry on, riding out whatever is going through her noggin. Hunk, the absolute dream, doesn’t bat an eye when he comes back with snacks and drinks.

He just lays out the spread on the coffee table before lifting the tangle of legs off the other end of the couch enough for him to sit back before resting them back over his lap and pulling up Netflix.

They don’t talk about it.

Lance and Pidge.

Lance and Hunk, that’s their thing. They love love. They’re all about doing the high fives and dumb handshakes and hugs and sitting close together and talking about it.

Pidge isn’t really the type to gush or anything.

Which is fine, it just means that Lance kind of always has to stay prepared for her to come in for a landing at any given time without warning.

Lance’s lot in life is pretty good, sure the universe threw in some character building situations in there, but they weren’t impossible and the outcome made it worth it.

However, the universe quietly whispered, “Third time’s the charm, bucko.” and flipped the mattress out from under him.

Promptly landing Keith Kogane in their midst.

Apparently, he had been at the same school since freshman year of high school, but Lance only remembers noticing him the first time in chemistry junior year. He sat one table up with the girl Lance had a crush on, he had a plan on how to become her lab partner and everything!

Keith swooped in and took that seat without a second thought, didn’t bother to look around to see if anyone else wanted to sit there or anything.

Crimes against nature.

Lance was going to hit it up with that girl and ask her to prom.

They….did not get off to a great start.

Turns out Keith wasn’t incredibly obtuse enough not to notice the little daggers Lance drilled into the back of his head for three whole months an hour and twenty minutes at a time and it was a downward spiral from there.

And when Pidge brought Keith up to their lunch table the day he stole Lance’s seat in chem?

Ultimate betrayal.

A conspiracy.

 _Et tu,_ Holt?

The guy just had an off vibe about him, it was incredibly unsettling. Almost insulting? The guy’s love language was probably brass knuckles to somebody’s jaw.

Hunk mentioned it was weird to see them find the one person that brought out the worst in them. A little unsettling to see Lance so _charged._

Adolescence tends to be that. 

_Que sera, sera_ until their brains finish forming and catch up with all of the growth spurts in their arms and legs.

College is another level of love language all on its own. Where Lance cried after studying for several hours straight because Hunk brought him a plate of pizza bagels when he finally took a break. Together they would sneak into Pidge’s dorm to pry her from her desk and drive to the drive-in in the next town over and fall asleep piled in Hunk’s car surrounded by junk food wrappers.

They try to keep an even balance of the crushing weight of higher education and doing normal people things that make them happy.

* * *

  
They’re at a bar, crammed into a booth talking as fast as they can when Pidge interrupts the conversation to slam both palms on the table and hoist herself up, hollering at someone from across the room. It’s so outrageously loud, Lance doesn’t think anyone would hear her, so he doesn’t bother to see who she’s trying to hail. He stays glued to the conversation he’s having with Hunk, talking fast and probably laughing too loud.

And the universe brings him abruptly back to the start of his fall-ups.

Because Keith Kogane walks up to the table with a smile on his face and slides into the booth when Pidge latches onto his arm and yanks him down.

He’s—

He catches Lance’s attention.

Kind of in the old way he did, when they would butt heads over the stupidest shit, and in a whole new way that has no right feeling as familiar as it does. His hair is a little longer because _of course it would be._ It’s a trip and a half when Keith greets Hunk and then Lance like it’s normal. Like they’re buddies. Like Lance and Keith didn’t bring out the worst in each other and made everyone around them suffer because of it.

In this booth, crowded toward each other to hear over the people around them, it’s easily in the top three times Lance and Keith have been this close to each other. Lance doesn’t remember his eyes being the color they are, how nice his laugh is. It’s almost like looking at a completely different person.

Or a body snatchers situation.

Pidge says something that has Keith flustered, his voice breaking just a little bit as he scrambles to defend himself, but his shoulders don’t immediately pop up to his ears and he isn’t frowning, his hands stay relaxed, unclenched.

There’s a split second where Keith moves his bangs away from his eyes that he looks up and catches Lance looking at him.

But he doesn’t challenge Lance or give him a dirty look.

He lets it pass like it never happened, lets the eye contact last a bit longer before he slides his attention back to a question Hunk asked.

His interest is peaked.

His brain is turning.

Feels a little fuzzy but that’s probably because by now he’s already finished most of his drink.

It isn’t a _terrible_ feeling, but it’s new.

Leaves him a little breathless because it’s setting off a trail of dangerous thoughts, popping and zipping through his mind like fireworks.

“Hey, Lance.”

He’s gotta blink everything back into focus and it’s pretty obvious he wasn’t paying any attention, staring off at a point unknown. Covers it with a ‘hmm’ and gets the last sip of his drink through the straw.

“Do you remember getting mad at me for sitting beside that girl you liked in chemistry?”

“We do foolish things when we’re in love.” It gets a chuckle from Hunk and Pidge, Keith’s smile gets a little bigger - a little lopsided and rakish. It’s almost embarrassing, looking back he only has a vague recollection of that girl, of her face. The phantom echo of what her voice sounded like. 

If he’s being completely honest, he doesn’t remember her name.

“I just wanted to sit by the window.”

Hunk and Pidge dissolve into laughter because the way Keith says it is lot funnier than what those words would normally be. He finishes it off by lifting his own drink to his lips, a teasing glint in his eyes aimed at Lance.

It’s a start.

A small insight.

It feels a little like the day he learned to surf, his balance on the board horrible because he was shaking like a leaf.

Pidge seems to have Keith figured out, somehow with time. They’ve got this silent thing going on that reminds Lance a little bit of him and Rachel, existing along on a shared brainwave. Hunk slaps a heavy, overjoyed hand on Keith’s shoulder and leans them in toward each other. Laughter quakes through both of them, has Keith sweeping his hand through his hair and tossing his head back.

It isn’t that Lance is _jealous_ jealous.

It’s skirting.

There’s a click with Hunk and Keith where it brings out the softer edges of Keith. Makes the room feel big and soft and charged with charismatic electricity. A bit like Luís and Rachel.

If there’s anything he’s learned, it’s to be patient. A time will come, he doubts it’ll be from Hunk shoving Keith and Lance out of the apartment with a surfboard in the direction of the ocean - it’s kind of two hours away. The good stuff takes time. If he’s patient and listening, he’ll feel the cool water twisting around his ankles while the sun warms him.

Here, he realizes, he wants to leave a trail. He isn’t quite sure why or where the idea might have come from. It just feels right.

He starts to look forward to the times Pidge will bring Keith with her or Hunk will plan a friend dinner and invite Keith over. A buzz starts up under his skin and doesn’t stop the entire time Keith is over. They start standing and sitting next to each other, getting closer each time. Lance forgets he’s even supposed to be waiting for anything. He dives in and goes.

It isn’t until the door shuts behind Keith that Lance realizes he lost his way.

Completely misses where his own trail was supposed to be starting and ending. It’s a mess of half conversations and laughter without any direction or solid definition. 

They still butt heads.

This time it’s lighter, doesn’t dig deep to get the upper hand and there’s this smile that light’s up Keith’s face when he does it—

Hunk tells them they’re a house on fire and the blaze envelopes Lance.

Welcomes it wholeheartedly.

He’ll crash at Keith’s place to play games on his phone while Keith studies, plays a little music to ease the tension and set a more relaxing mood. Well, as relaxing as statistics can be. Lance can’t exactly perform miracles. 

Speaks up only to casually suggest getting food when it’s time for Keith to take a break.

Texts Keith with good memes and random stuff he thinks will get a laugh or something Keith would really like nearly around the clock. Every time Lance thinks maybe he should ease off the gas, he forgets or Keith will message him first.

The first time they hug, it’s when Lance comes back from visiting his extended family back in Cuba. It’s different from hugging Hunk or Pidge. He knows his way around a good hug and for the first time in a long time, he isn’t sure what to do with his hands. Can’t get a thought through to higher base functions because Keith is warm and the smell of his laundry detergent and shower soaps breaks over Lance like wave.

Some of Keith’s hair ghosts over Lance’s nose and that’s all it takes.

The first time he gets the courage to look at Keith the way Lance has wanted to for so long, he remembers the trail he was supposed keep an eye on. Like all of the times before, he has jumped the gun and left himself stranded on the edge of mislaid plans and blind hope.

The frame, the old bones of their past crumble and Lance doesn’t know if there will be anything after the fire and the smoke finally clears.

His skin is buzzing, knees are wobbly and a wave is coming straight for him.

He stands on the board and hopes as hard as he can.

Forces himself to take even breaths.

His chest burns in a good way.

Keith is watching him so closely, eye darting back and forth over Lance’s face. He pushes forward and presses his mouth against Lance’s.

Lance raises up on that wave and doesn’t let the board slip out from under him.

He pulls back enough to look at Keith, they’re still so close together. Lance looks down at Keith’s mouth and dives back in, bringing his hands up to cradle Keith’s jaw and slide to the back of his neck. He slots their mouths together at a better angle and lets the wave break over him.

He holds his breath for as long as he can.

Determined to make this last as long as possible when Keith’s hands circle around Lance’s waist and his fingers tangle in his shirt. Tries to spill everything out into this kiss because if it never happens again, he’s gotta make it for all it’s worth. He won’t last a second, even as his lungs burn and his fingertips go a little numb when Keith’s tongue sweeps across his lip.

It’s deeper and almost unforgiving but Lance realizes that Keith it trying to do the exact same thing. He breaks the kiss to gasp in a breath, mixed with shaky laughter. Keith is in no better shape, Lance can feel him shaking. He’s breathing just as hard. 

It drives Lance crazy, makes his greedy for more, to see how far they can go.

See where this could go because Lance has no trail back.

Before he loses his nerve, he places light kisses down the side of Keith’s neck until his gets to the collar of his shirt. He buries his nose in the worn material and snakes his hands around Keith, holding him as tightly as he dares.

“I wanted to meet you halfway.” Keith whispers it into the crook of Lance’s neck.

* * *

So—

Lance is a giver - always has been and he loves it.

He likes knowing the people he has in his life and learning the language of their love and how to make them feel better. It’s unique to that person and variety is the spice of life after all.

And along the way he learned a little bit of his own.

He saw most of it through the dark eyes of a boy he thought was trying to steal his prom date in high school chemistry. He laughs at Lance’s dumb jokes. Lets Lance fall onto him while he’s sitting on the couch and will card his fingers through Lance’s hair. Isn’t intentionally growing out his own hair but he’s not intentionally getting haircuts and doesn’t understand why that doesn’t make sense when Lance points that out.

Keith gets along with his siblings and Lance is in awe of Keith’s adopted brother.

Lance’s parents love Keith.

He can’t say no to Lance’s niece and nephew.

He leaves Lance breathless. Consumed with this low simmer heat that doesn’t ever really go away, even when they’re not making out like teenagers or melting into each other in bed. Slow dancing in a burning room isn’t supposed to be a good thing, it’s a sign of trouble ahead. But with them it’s different. 

It takes on new meaning.

They’re a house on fire so it’s just the promise of a good time.

Fires aren’t meant to go out.

They put in the work to keep it that way.

Lance is over the moon.

If it wasn’t for grad school cementing his feet to the ground and giving him the shake down, he’d be outta here and streaking past Earth’s stratosphere.

Which is what has him planted at his desk with his motivation playlist pulsing through his headphones and five different peer reviewed articles pulled up on his desktop on a perfectly lovely Saturday afternoon. But he’s getting stuff done so he should be thankful for that. He’s got to meet a personal deadline and then he and Keith can do their own thing the rest of the day. He’s focused enough he doesn’t hear the door open.

Or their cat yelling from the living room.

Completely misses the tired shuffle echoing down the hallway.

Lance is staring down a messy word document of annotations and notes one second and the next, his chair is slowly turning away from the desk for Keith to crowd in close. He startles, laughs through it as his heart knocks around in his throat and he pauses the music, takes out one earbud for good measure.

“He _-ey!”_

He gets a huffy mumble before Keith starts to just climb into his lap and this _specifically_ lead somewhere once so Lance can’t be blamed for the heat that takes over his cheeks at break neck speed. Lance plants his feet on the floor and stays still, tries to keep his cool. Keith settles without saying anything. Which is weird because they both live to tease each other when they think something’s gonna go a certain way but winds up being totally innocent.

“Wha-?”

Keith situates his legs on either side of Lance’s waist, letting them fall over the back of his chair as he gently sits as close as he can. “Work.”

“Oh…okay.” Lance shifts a little in his seat until he’s sure he can be comfortable like this for a bit. 

Keith wraps his arms up around Lance’s neck, pressing the cool tip of his nose into the curve of Lance’s jaw. “Sorry, I know you’re trying to work.”

Lance hums, brushes the palm of his hand up and down Keith’s back. “Don’t even worry about it. I gotchya.” 

And because he’s in love, he turns his head as much as he can to kiss the side of Keith’s head. Lance picks up the forgotten earbud and hands it too Keith, waits for him to adjust it in his ear before switching playlists and hitting play. 

There’s not a bone in his body that isn’t weak for this.

* * *

_it's a little bit funny, this feeling inside_  
_I'm not one of those who can easily hide—_  
_how wonderful life is now you're in the world_

**Author's Note:**

> *** I wrote this story in one sitting and the writing just flowed - like it used too. That doesn't really happen anymore, so when it does, it's borderline miracle. I felt like it turned out so well. Please, if you enjoyed it or gave it kudos, leave a comment or even just come say hi on tumblr. It would mean a lot. thank you
> 
> -[tumblr](https://echotovalley.tumblr.com)


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